1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an integrated keyboard device, including those used for Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, and more particularly relates to an integrated keyboard input device wherein a combination of input peripheral devices, such as an optical scanner, are combined with a keyboard to form a single integrated unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Point-Of-Sales (POS) systems are well-known in the prior art. Generally, in a Point-of-Sale system, a plurality of peripherals, such as, credit card readers, optical scanners, keyboards, smart card readers and the like need to interface with one another and with a local computer terminal. In the past, Point-of-Sale systems consisted of a "closed" system in which each peripheral needed to be separately connected to a central computer, each individual peripheral separately communicating to the computer in unique data formats and each requiring an individual interface to the computer. With the large variety of POS input devices available it has become difficult to integrate all the required devices. For example, the most commonly used POS components in a POS system include:
Cash drawer--interface with receipt printer, parallel port, or serial port, PA1 Receipt printer--interface with parallel port or serial port, PA1 Monitor and computer--interface with VGA port, PA1 Customer pole display--interface with parallel port or serial port, PA1 keyboard--interface with keyboard or serial port, PA1 Credit card reader--interface with keyboard, parallel or serial port, PA1 Optical scanner--interface with keyboard or serial port. PA1 Mouse pad or similar pointing device--interface with serial port. PA1 Smart Card Reader--interface with parallel or serial port.
Interfacing multiple peripheral devices also requires a confusing maze of external cable connections to facilitate the interface. Each point of interconnection in a conventional POS system adds cost and complexity to the system while diminishing system reliability. A further impediment to component integration is the incompatibility of the physical sizes of various components. For example, it has been an impractical task to integrate an optical scanning engine into a standard keyboard housing. Furthermore, physical space limitations become increasingly apparent with each component added to a system.
POS input peripherals may be connected to a computer keyboard input port of a standard personal computer in a daisy chain configuration. A suitable system is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/899,290, incorporated by reference herein, a copy of which is also attached as appendix A.
Various keyboard devices are used as POS input devices, including traditional QWERTY configured keyboards, and programmable POS configured keyboards.
A number of prior devices provide a POS configured keyboard with an integrated magnetic stripe reader or smart card reader (for example, Cherry Electrical Products Model G81-7000). At least one prior art device (example Cherry Electrical Products Model G80-1950) further provides a laser bar code reader which is available as a plug-in attachment to a POS configured keyboard. These devices however are limited in that they are unable to support an optical scanner integrated within the keyboard and therefore require additional equipment space at the POS station as well as additional wiring and component costs.
Other prior art devices integrate a small hand-held data terminal, that has an integral programmable keypad, with a laser scanning head (for example, Symbol Technologies Portable Data Terminal, Model No. PDT3100. Such devices however are limited in that they do not offer the flexibility, capability or ergonomic ease of use of a standard sized keyboard. Nor are they capable of simultaneously integrating a plurality of POS input devices such as a credit card scanner, smart card reader, touch pad, etc.
At least one prior art device, including, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,060, to Wilke, Jr. et al., houses an optical scanner within a data terminal, the data terminal including various externally mounted POS input devices such as a POS keyboard, receipt printer and cash drawer. However the data terminal housing itself is a large enclosure on which a keyboard is attached. None of these devices integrate an optical scanner within the housing of a standard keyboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,786 to Rockstein et al. discloses a wireless bar code reading device that includes a portable scanner unit and an associated base unit. The base unit is inserted into a keyboard device. The portable scanner unit, which is hand held and separate from the keyboard, scans a target object and transmits data to the associated receiving base unit which transmits the data directly to the computer. The receiver base unit is not an optical scanner but rather a plug-in type signal transceiver that communicates with an external laser scanning engine. This device does not integrate an optical scanning engine within a standard sized keyboard housing.
As discussed above, prior to the present invention it has been impractical to integrate a number of the above-referenced POS components as part of a POS keyboard, with at least one of the components being an optical scanner, housed within the keyboard.
It would be desirable to minimize both the number of interconnecting cables and the number of individual POS input devices needed by integrating components with compatible data format, thus introducing physical space savings, lower costs, improved performance, enhanced reliability, and to achieve more harmonious styling.
It is also desirable to provide a keyboard input device wherein a plurality of the above referenced POS components, including an optical scanner, are integrated in the housing of a standard POS or QWERTY configured keyboard device.